After the Boston Celtics went into halftime trailing the Miami Heat by double digits, they had caught up and only trailed by one midway through the third quarter.
Then the Heat went on a tear, pulling ahead again by as much as 13. Miami led by 11 after Derrick Jones’ free throws that apparently closed the third quarter, and it looked like the Heat had all the momentum.
But then point guard Kemba Walker came through.
Approaching his minutes limit, Walker quickly got the inbounds passed, got to the half-court line and heaved up a shot. Money.
Suddenly, the Cletics were only down 91-83 going into the final quarter.
Walker is supposed to be limited to a 27-minutes maximum Tuesday, and Marcus Smart has already fouled out, so if Boston is going to make a run, now is the time.
Walker got that potential fourth-quarter run started a little bit early.
A win would extend the Celtics’ record to 3.5 games over the Heat and in strong control of the third seed, while a loss would put them just 1.5 games over Miami.
